Fla. electors may be chosen by lawmakers

Published: Thursday, November 23, 2000

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. {AP} Florida's Republican lawmakers, fuming over a state Supreme Court decision in the presidential race, are talking about choosing their own slate of national electors in an extraordinary session.

Mike Fasano, the GOP leader in the Florida House, said the Republican-controlled Legislature could intervene if hand recounts in two predominantly Democratic counties push Democrat Al Gore over the top in the race for the state's decisive electoral votes.

And new House Speaker Tom Feeney said the Legislature was ready to "ensure an Electoral College representation for Florida" though he also suggested on Thanksgiving eve that everyone "relax, take a deep breath for at least 24 hours."

In a victory Tuesday for Gore, the state high court ruled that hand counts could continue in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, although Miami-Dade decided Wednesday to halt them anyway.

Fasano said if the electors are not picked by the required date next month, "the responsibility falls on the Legislature in Florida to decide who those electors are going to be."

He was referring to a part of the federal code that says if a state fails to choose its electors "on the day prescribed by law," the state's Legislature may select them in another way.

Robert Hardaway, a University of Denver law professor who wrote a book on the Electoral College, said no Legislature has appointed a state's electors since the Civil War era.

However, another political scientist said there was nothing preventing a Legislature from taking back its right to choose electors.

"If the state Legislature wanted to pass a law and say they were going to choose electors, people could vote them out of office, but legally they have a free hand to do that," said Virginia Chanley from Florida International University in Miami.

Senate President John McKay said in a statement that the "gravity of this situation may require consideration of legislative action at some point prior to the regular legislative session." And Speaker Feeney said he had asked a law professor to brief him on the Legislature's options.

Democrats, and even some top Republican officials, questioned whether the Legislature could retroactively change the rules. The federal Constitution empowers state Legislatures to choose the manner by which electors are chosen, but all states have statutes awarding the electors to their popular-vote winner.